


Why didn't you tell me?

by fan_fics_are_life



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Caring Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Fainting, M/M, Sick Merlin (Merlin), Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:34:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23227927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fan_fics_are_life/pseuds/fan_fics_are_life
Summary: The knights went on a hunting trip. Of course they had Merlin with, because someone had to to the chores. But with Merlin's luck, something has to go wrong.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 301





	Why didn't you tell me?

The knights went on a hunting trip. Of course they had Merlin with because someone had to take care of the horses and make the food and wash the dishes and collect firewood. You get the point.

It was supposed to be a quite long trip. Emphasis on the supposed to.

It was the evening of the first day. They had caught a few rabbits, so that was their dinner. Merlin made some rabbit stew and started to pass it out to the knights.

“Oi! Give me some more, will you?” That was Gwaine “I’m hungry as a horse!”

“Yes, Gwaine, here you go!” Merlin looked into the pot. There was very little of the stew left and he hadn’t had the chance to eat yet.

“Well, if you are sharing it like that, you can give me some more too!” Percival said.

“There you go, Percival!” The stew looked delicious and Merlin hadn’t had anything else than some porridge for breakfast the whole day.

But then Leon spoke up: “Do you mind giving me some more as well?” Of course Merlin gave him some and then realized that there wasn’t anything left in the pot. He didn’t get anything. Again.

“Merlin, go feed and water the horses and when you are done with that you can go and wash the dishes in the river” Arthur was the one to give him those orders.

“Yes,sire” said Merlin and then left to take care of the horses. When he got back, the knights were already sleeping.

Merlin sighed, picked up the dishes and started walking towards the river. When he got there, it was almost completely dark outside. Merlin started with the plates or bowls, whatever you want to call those. When he was done with the plates he started to wash the pot, but then the ladle fell into the river. He tried to grab it, but fell into the river as well. The water was freezing. He was soaking wet, but he quickly got up and grabbed the ladle. He finished washing the pot and went back to the camp. He was shivering and sneezing and he really hoped that he won’t catch cold. Arthur already thought that he was a fool and when he would tell him that he fell into the river, he would think that he was completely useless. So Merlin just laid down next to what was left of the fire and hoped for the best.

Merlin couldn’t really sleep that night. He was cold and the ‘bed’ was really uncomfortable. He woke up so many times that after about the 15th time he didn’t even bother to go back to sleep. His head was killing him and his throat was sore, but he couldn’t sleep anyways so what was the point?

So instead he prepared the breakfast. He’s stomach growled loudly and that reminded him that he hadn’t eaten for nearly 24 hours. The others were still asleep so he hoped that he is going to be able to eat this time. He made the porridge and just as he was about to put the spoon into his mouth, Arthur called him:

“Merlin, why didn’t you wake us or tell us that the breakfast is ready?” And with that Arthur walked over to him and grabbed the plate from his hands. Arthur had already woken the other knights and now they were there with their plates.

Merlin sighed and gave them all of the porridge. He knew he couldn’t have any anyways. While the others ate, Merlin went to feed the horses. While he was doing that he started to cough really hard. He tried to be as quiet as possible. He looked around. Luckily no-one had heard him coughing.

Suddenly, he felt really dizzy and he had to lean against a tree. He sunk to the ground and panted. Black dots were dancing across his vision.

“Merlin! We don’t have all day! Get up and feed the bloody horses!” Of course now Arthur was there.

“Yes….sire” Merlin said, still panting. Arthur furrowed his brows, but didn’t make a big deal out of it and left.

Merlin got up and stumbled over to the horses. He fed them, collected himself and went back to the camp.

Arthur was already ready to give him orders again: “Merlin, collect our things, we’re riding in 10 minutes.”

“Yes, sir” Merlin answered this time normally and started to pack their things. He still wasn’t feeling very well, but he kept his mouth shut.

After 10 minutes, they were all on their horses. Arthur was riding in front, behind him were Percival and Elyan, after them was Leon and behind him were Gwaine and Lancelot. Merlin was last, because he had hard time even staying on his horse. He was breathing heavily, he felt that he was sweating. The knights swam in front of his eyes and their voices were muffled.

Arthur noticed that Merlin was barely able to sit on his horse, so he gave the lead to Percival and slowed his horse down, so soon he was riding next to Merlin. He was pale, but the dark circles under his eyes were very dark. He was covered in sweat and he was leaning onto his horse’s neck.

“Merlin, are you alright?” Arthur asked him.

Merlin could barely hear him. He wanted to look at Arthur, but he didn’t have enough energy. Finally, with big effort he turned his head toward Arthur, but he could barely make out a horse and Arthur’s red cape. But still he gave Arthur a small smile. Then he remembered, that he said something and because he expected that it was that type of question he slurred something

“yea….i’mf’ne” He wasn’t even sure if he actually said anything, but he hoped that he did.

Arthur wasn’t convinced, though. “You don’t look very good”

The usual, cheery Merlin would’ve said something like “Well, you’re not my type either” but right now “…mhm…” was all he could say. Now he’s blurry vision started to fade to black on the edges. He felt that he let go of the halter and then he felt himself falling. He heard someone shout something right before his vision went completely black.

Arthur instantly jumped off of his horse and ran to Merlin’s side. He put his hand on Merlin’s forehead and felt that it was burning hot. Now all the other knight were there too.

“We need to get him back to Camelot!” said Arthur.

“What even happened asked Gwaine, who was actually worried.

“He has a very high fever and he passed out” answered Arthur.

“What about the trip? asked Leon.

“Forget the trip!” shouted Arthur “He’s sick and we are going back to Camelot!” And with that he picked Merlin up and put him onto his horse. He felt weirdly light. Did he even eat anything yesterday? Thoughts were running through Arthur’s head, but he was snapped back to reality, when the others shoved him towards his horse. They had already strapped Merlin to his horse.

They rode to Camelot as fast as possible. When they arrived, Percival picked Merlin up and carried him to Gaius’ chamber. Luckily, Gaius was there.

“What happened to him?” Gaius asked as soon as he saw Merlin.

“We don’t know. All we know is that he has a very high fever” Arthur said as Percival laid him down on his bed.

“Oh dear, that is a high fever” Gaius said as he put his hand on Merlin’s forehead.

“But he will be alright, right?” asked Arthur with a hint of panic in his voice. Luckily no-one seemed to notice.

“Yes, don’t worry, my lord. It was a right choice that you brought him here. If his fever would’ve gotten any higher, he might wouldn’t have made it.” said Gaius as he put a cold rag on Merlin’s forehead. Merlin stirred in his sleep.

“Take care of him” Arthur said to Gaius and started to walk away. As he turned around, he saw that all the other knights were already gone.

“Arthur?” someone asked in a quiet voice. It was Merlin. Arthur instantly turned around and walked to the side of Merlin’s bed. “Yes?” he asked.

“Thank you” said Merlin with a barely audible voice.

Arthur smiled. “ Of course” he said to half asleep Merlin. “Get well soon.”

“Mhm” said Merlin as he rolled over on his bed.

Arthur nodded Gaius good bye and walked out of the chamber, still smiling.

***

After a few days, Merlin was feeling better and he was back on his job.

“Hey, Merlin, how are you feeling?” Arthur asked him, as he walked into Arthur’s room.

“Better, thank you” Merlin said and felt a blush creeping onto his cheeks.

“So,” Arthur started, “You want to tell me what happened?”

Merlin froze. Should he tell him? It could make him look like a fool. But maybe he should confront his issue?

“Merlin?” Arthur snapped Merlin out of his thoughts.

But now tears were stinging in Merlin’s eyes. He turned his back to Arthur.

“It was nothing, sire” Merlin tried to speak with a confident voice, but he failed miserably.

“Merlin, you can tell me what happened” Arthur said with as friendly voice as possible. He walked next to Merlin. He saw his teary eyes and now Arthur was very confused.

“Merlin” Arthur said in the softest voice Merlin had ever heard him use “Can you tell me what happened?”

“I fell into a river” Merlin said with a guilty voice and looked at his feet.

Arthur looked at him with a surprised face, but continued with the soft voice. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You would’ve thought that I was completely useless fool, who couldn’t do anything.” Now the tears were falling freely.

“Merlin” Arthur said as he lifted Merlin’s chin so he would look him into the eye. “I don’t think you are a fool. And even when I say that you are, I never mean it, it’s just a friendly bickering. I think that you are the most selfless, loyal, brave and overall the best servant I have ever seen” Arthur smiled and swiped the tears away from Merlin’s cheeks.

“Come here” Arthur said and brought Merlin into a hug. Now they both smiled.

“I still need you to muck out the horses, though” Arthur said and ruffled Merlin’s hair.

“Yes, sire” said Merlin and started walking towards the doors.

“Merlin?” Arthur called after him.

Merlin turned around. “Yes?”

“If I hear, that you have told someone that I’ve gone soft, I’ll have in stocks” Arthur said with a sharp look.

“Don’t worry, I won’t” Merlin answered him and made his way out of the room.


End file.
